Hello Oregon!

Mike and I left San Jose, CA today. We said goodbye to his parents and started our seven hour drive to Medford, Oregon. We passed some beautiful landscapes. In Northern California, we passed Mt. Shasta. It was incredibly breath-taking! We pulled off at a Vista Point and took a few pictures. After getting back onto the road, we crossed the Oregon state line and pulled into our hotel 30 minutes later. Mike and I unloaded the cats and got them settled into our room. Okay, as settled as cats can be in a hotel room.

Mike and I decided to head off to grab a quick bite to eat. We were very indecisive as to what to eat. So, we decided to drive around until we found something that looked appetizing. (A side note: as you may remember from my last post, we had new tires put on the car for the drive to Alaska. Okay, file that away and hold on tight.) Well, apparently, we did not find something appetizing soon enough.

I was just about to tell Mike to watch the curb on the right side of the street, when all of a sudden, Mike turned right at a green light and violently hurled the car up on to a curb. My head jerked forward and then backwards. I felt pain shoot through my neck and head. Then the U-Haul trailer went up and over the curb. He jerked the car back onto the street and he quietly and calmly said, “What was that?” In horrific dismay, I replied, “Nothing major, just the curb and the sidewalk.”

As we slowly trudged forward, we felt a ka-bump, ka-bump, ka-bump. We pulled off the road and into a parking lot to see what was damaged. I got out of the passengers side and looked at the back right tire. It was completely blown out. It was as flat as a pancake with a nice size hole in the side. The trailer was fine with no visible damage.

Feeling somewhat responsible, Mike sprung into action. He quickly found the jack, pulled out the spare and went to work. He moved with grace and precision. I have never seen a man change a tire like my husband did. It was a sight to see! I looked at him as he was loosening those lug-nuts and thought to myself, “Yeah. That’s my He-man tire changer!” I smiled to myself and a warm feeling came over me. I no longer felt the pain in my neck, just a sweet love for my accident-prone husband.

In all, I would say that we are blessed beyond measure. No one was hurt. The car was not damaged other than the tire. The U-Haul was not damaged. And, Mike changed that tire in under 15 minutes!

Done in under 15 minutes!

My He-Man Tire Changer!

Hole in the tire

That's one flat tire!

Hills in Southern Oregon

Mt. Shasta

Mike and Mt. Shasta

Kristie and Mt. Shasta

Mt. Shasta

Watch out for bears!

Goodbye Mom and Dad!

A.C., Abigail and Francie waiting to be loaded into the car